Against Me!'s 'Transgender Dysphoria Blues' Streaming Online Now

Sixteen years after forming in Gainesville, Florida, and nearly
two years after frontman Tom Gabel began living life as a woman, Against Me!
will unleash their first album with Laura Jane Grace at the helm. It drops 1/21, but thanks to NPR, you can listen to Transgender Dysphoria Blues right now.

The band's sixth is a ferocious, highly personal record. Vocally, not much has changed—Jane's delivery is nearly identical to her past work—but the songs are far more candid, as you might expect from someone going through hormone replacement therapy while still married to a woman.

"True Trans Soul Rebel" and "F—KMYLIFE666"
directly address the major life change without ever being didactic. For
instance, a line like, "Is your mother proud of your eyelashes?" gets
Jane's point across artfully, showing rather than telling how coming out as
transgender has altered her life. The negotiation between honesty and
obliqueness is near-perfect on Transgender Dysphoria Blues, an
enormous achievement given the typically blunt lyrics on most confessional
punk albums.

At 29 minutes, this is a full seven minutes shorter than their last album. But unlike 2010's White
Crosses, the emotional depth of this record makes it feel like a more
substantial, fully-realized work. Listen
to it at NPR and marvel at the wonderful song title "Osama bin Laden as
the Crucified Cross."